Beginning in Stromness, the journey was an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of the island of Hoy, with RSPB staff on hand to help with seabird ID, a cetacean spotter on the bridge (sadly, her skills were not called upon) and a member of the crew pointing out geological, historical and nautical features en route.
And there was a buffet (of which we partook) and free tasters of whisky and gin (of which we didn't) (at least, this 'we' didn't, I can't speak for Our Lass).
As the forecast was uncertain about the potential for precipitation, I didn't take my camera along. Neither did I wish to join in the jostling for a good position at the hand rail, so I stood back from the action and generally waved my phone in the vague direction of the scenery. The following photos have had their horizons re-aligned to somewhere near horizontal!
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| The stretch of cliffs along St John's Head towards the Old Man of Hoy |
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| St John's Head, one of the highest vertical sea cliffs in Britain |
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| The Old Man of Hoy |
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| Rackwick Bay |
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| Candle of the Sneuk (on the right) |
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| Sea cliffs on the approach to The Berry |
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| Looking across Graemsay towards the Hoy hills |
4 comments:
two things puzzle me Mr W:
1) What nautical things took place or is it a case what goes on tour stays on tour. I trust if 'our lass' imbibed that she wasn't nautical?
2) If you didn't indulge then how come your pictures had to have the horizons aligned?
Just wondering, like
They are good questions.
1. Ship wrecks, lighthouses and such. Re gin, fortunately we had forgotten to bring along three sheets.
2. The bluey grey stuff (or was it grey-y blue?) between the ship and the cliffs was quite lumpy, which made the deck interesting. Either that or the captain had been at the gin.
Ha ha! Very funny Mr W.
In other news I had cause to use the power of Twitter to galvanise an intransigent Housing Association into doing something for swifts in the Rottonian Republic.
Had dealings with them before about 2 years ago and then it took some cajoling to get new swift nest holes made after they'd blocked them when renovating some flats.
This time they are building some houses in the republic and I asked for some swift bricks to be installed. They've been giving me the usual comedy run-around one gets. Sadly (for them) I'm too old and long in the tooth not to recognise all the usual tricks. It dragged on for 3 weeks until the straw broke and Victor came out to play. I posted something on Twitter which got an instant response and finally some cooperation - I hope. I'm not counting my swifts just yet but I'll attempt to provide you an amusing update in due course.
John, it sounds like a marathon effort, well done for sticking with it. You're probably on file in their office... under 'John-athon Swift'.
Sorry.
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